8 posts from February 2014

February 27, 2014

A few days ago, I wore a red printed blouse from Banana Republic with a pair of skinny jeans and received so many complements that I am now looking to add more to my wardrobe. It's a no brainer, easy way to freshen up a casual look and add color at the same time. Top, jeans, flats and done! I love this Geo Print Blouse ($79.50 at Banana Republic). Right now Banana Republic has a sale going on where you can get 40% off your purchase until 3/2 with the code BRTUNEIN. So really, there's no excuse for me (or you) not to snag this!

February 26, 2014

It's all about the statement necklace and right now my favorite one I have been wearing has been the Van Camp Necklace ($32) from Outrage Fashion. I wore it in Paris last month for dinner at Le Cinq at the George V. It gave my LBD a colorful pop and literally made my entire outfit. I can see this necklace working for me a lot this spring and summer with their eye-catching mint, green, and orange colors. The quality of the necklace has been great and it's not heavy at all around my neck. Back at home now in the city, I can give a simple casual outfit a modern edge by pairing it with a white t-shirt, skinny jeans and a white or black blazer.

February 25, 2014

Snag these Dolce Vita Hilary Booties currently on sale at Zappos for $119 (regular $189). I just picked mine up in the taupe suede but the booties also come in black leather. These shoes look like an inspired version of the popular Rag & Bone Harrow booties but at a fraction of the cost. What do I love the best about these booties? The padding inside the soles means heavenly comfort when you're walking around the city!

February 24, 2014

Jo Malone London has a new limited edition fragrance collection out now called London Rain. The collection features four delicious scents in stunning ombre colored bottles. (Mine look so gorgeous together on my perfume tray.) To be honest, I can't even really pick a favorite as I have been alternating between all of four of them for the past week in hopes I could just pick one. Nope just can't limit myself. None of these colognes are overpowering or strong. I have found each of the colognes in the London Rain collection smelling so lovely and soft on me. And my husband who seems to have a keen nose, as French people do, with beautiful frangrances, keeps telling me everyday how wonderful I smell.

Here are the four featured London Rain colognes, along with some description snippets (which are quite accurate) from Jo Malone London's web site. Trust me, they are all so good. If you can't decide, pick which color you like best. ;) Each 100 ml bottle is $120. The London Rain collection is limited edition so be sure to pick up yours soon!

Rain & Angelica: Glassy beads of dew, awakening a London park at dawn. A revitalizing scent, enlivened with herbaceous angelica and juicy lime on an earthy base of vetiver. Aqueaous and clear.

Wisteria & Violet: A soft morning shower, soaking purple wisteria cascading over London stone walls. Infused with the wet-petal scent of violets and water lily. Rain-washed and intoxicating.

February 12, 2014

The Hado Labo Tokyo Replenishing Hydrator ($17.99 at walgreens.com) is a new serum that is new to the U.S. from Japan. This hydrator is sold every two seconds there! The lightweight, non-greasy formula is fast-absorbing and instantly hydrates your skin. The hydrator contains super hyaluronic acid which is a combination of 3 types of hyaluronic acid which is a naturally occurring component of skin that diminishes with age and sun exposure. It is free from paragons, fragrance, dyes and mineral oils.

The serum is clear and a *very* gentle pump is all you need to get a pea-sized amount. Rub it between your hands to warm it up and gently press onto face and neck. What's fantastic about this is that you can actually apply it throughout the day over your makeup too. I wear it under my moisturizer.

A few weeks ago, it was looking very dry from my trip to France. Since using this product for the last week and a half, I can't believe how much softer the skin on my face is. My forehead no longer looks dry and flaky. The price point can't be beat so give it a try.

February 06, 2014

Pantone's Fashion Color Report for Fall 2014 kicks off today's New York Fashion Week in grand style. Radiant Orchid is *the* color for 2014 (a sort of purplish-pink), now see how the rest of the colors of the palette are inspiring the looks for some of the top designers who will be showing this week. I love how we are incorporating brighter and more vibrant colors into fall.

San Francisco's Exploratorium was a place I loved going to as a kid because it was a wondrous place where I could learn about science while touching everything in sight. Just last year, the Exploratorium moved from the Palace of Fine Arts to it's new Pier 15 location along the Embarcadero. It's now a favorite place my husband and I take our 5 year old daughter. The Tinkering Studio is a recent feature inside the Exploratorium where anyone can sit down and learn how to make something from circuit boards to finger puppets. Launching today is new book, The Art of Tinkering written by The Tinkering Studio's co-directors, Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich. The book showcases 150+ makers working at the intersection of art, science and technology and captures that infectious maker spirit I so deeply love. Inside you'll not only find profiles of important makers but also how you can start tinkering around and explore making things from soft circuits, wire art, puppets, mark-making machines, fused fashion and more.

Featured as one of the makers inside The Art of Tinkering is Moxie Liberman, a fiber artist who's latest art piece Control 2.0 (pictured above) finds itself integrated along with the pipes and plugs along a wall inside the Exploratorium. Moxie can make wool bend and shape itself into any 3D object with a poke of a needle, known as needle felting. Moxie and I go way, way back. We became friends during the second Maker Faire in San Mateo back in 2007 when I worked on the MAKE/CRAFT team. She's been a good friend ever since and I am constantly in awe of how her talent grows each year and how patient and caring she is while teaching others how to tinker with her craft.

Here's my Q&A with Moxie where we talk about her fiber art and what she's making these days:

How did you start your collaboration with the Exploratorium in San Francisco?

Moxie: The Exploratorium may not have known it, but we've been collaborating since I was 8 years old. I grew up in the Bay Area and some of my most vivid childhood memories are of my time spent at The Exploratorium. I used to have dreams that I lived there. Even when I became extremely ill, (in my early 20s) I would conjure memories of the red, cushiony room in the old Tactile Dome as my meditative happy-place. Anyway, cut to 2012, Karen Wilkinson had seen me at Maker Faire and invited me to participate in a talk that turned into a mini-residency. I can't describe how inspiring and supportive the Tinkering Studio crew has been ever since. (I secretly still wish I could live in there, don't tell anyone!)

What was the inspiration behind your art piece Control 2.0 and how long did it take you to complete it?

Moxie: I'm attracted to shiny garbage and complicated machines, and using wool to recreate metal and plastic is a compelling process for me. I tried to create a kind of overwhelming, confusing, familiar-unfamiliar system, or is it a testing ground for the human guinea pig? I want people to imagine that the push of a button could trigger the end of things, or candy for everyone, or nothing at all. It took me a full year to create all the components, and 4 days to install, first at the Bellevue Arts Museum and now, in a different configuration, at The Exploratorium.

How do you feel about being included in The Art of Tinkering? Are there any makers in the book that inspire you?

Moxie:The Art of Tinkering is such a beautiful book, of course I'm completely honored to be a part of it. Every single page is an inspiration. I love Grace Kim's approach to e-textiles. Asia Ward's work touches me and her advice to new tinkerers is dead-on. Ranjit Bhatnagar and Walter Kitundu do astounding things, making me see, and hear, the world around me in a new way. And of course, Tim Hunkin – I want to run away and join his circus. I could go on, and on, and on. It's a great book.

You are a tinkerer, but I know you are also a great needle felting teacher. What kinds of simple projects do you recommend for a newbie needle felted? Also how young should kids be to try this art form?

Moxie: One of the core principles of tinkering is allowing yourself to play openly, which is also my approach to teaching. The minute you try to make something specific before you know how a method works, it's easy to become shut-down with fear and expectations. I recommend not worrying about the outcome of any first project, just pick up a needle and some wool, and see what happens. Make a ball, make a blob, make a mess, just let yourself feel how the materials change in your hands, and let your intuition guide you. Having said that, learning style is also important to consider. Some people have an easier time with instructions first, and that works too. (I have some free step-by-step tutorials online and there's a link to supplies there, too.)

I've taught children as young as 5, but it depends on the situation. As long as kids under 12 have the ACTIVE supervision of an adult, and the ability to poke slowly while always watching their own hands, it works well.

Have there been any projects made by your students that just blew you away?

Moxie: I absolutely love to see student work of all kinds, I find it truly inspiring. I always get excited when students connect with me online and send me photos. One of my favorites lately was a zombified-doll, with guts and stuff. I have a Felted With Moxie Flickr group for students and people who have read my book to post photos.

What are some of the current projects you are working on? Do you also have any upcoming events at the Exploratorium?

Moxie: I keep in touch with the folks at The Exploratorium. We don't have anything on the books at the moment but they'll never be rid of me. We'll play together again, I'm sure.

Coincidentally, I'm in a tinkering period, so I have a bunch of things smoldering right now. I'm experimenting with mixing some plastic tubing with fiber, I'm doing research for a piece I want to do dealing with family history and trans-generational trauma, and I'm daydreaming about doing some larger collaborations for art in unexpected venues. It's a fun time, but hard to describe. That's the beauty of tinkering, of course. You start in one place and find yourself somewhere else entirely.

The Exploratorium asked some of their makers "hack" the book cover. Here's what Moxie did:

February 03, 2014

Faire Collection launches their Spring/Summer 14 Horizons line of vibrant and contemporary jewelry, summer scarves and hats.Faire Collection was founded to bring sustainable economic growth to its artisan partners in Ecuador, Vietnam, and Swaziland. The Rhumba Necklace ($98) is handmade by artisans in Ecuador and is made from a collection of tagua and acai beads to create a stunning statement piece. The necklace shown above in Ivory, also comes in Lime and Quarry. The Bardot Striped Scarf ($39) is handmade in Vietnam from linen and silk and is perfect for the upcoming spring transitional weather. Comes in Lime (shown) and Ultraviolet and Ivory.